Nintendo's flagship fantasy action-adventure series created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka in 1985, the Zelda series is the source of many revolutionary gameplay conventions, and continues to be one of the most popular and critically acclaimed video game franchises of all time.

With the announcement of Wind Waker HD and seeing people's reactions I've got Zelda on the brain, and seeing some people calling it the worst Zelda game caused me to make this poll. I'm curious what the consensus would end up being as I've seen lots of people call pretty much any Zelda aside from Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and maybe Link's Awakening the worst Zelda. Spin-offs like Link's Crossbow Training weren't included, and the CD-i games weren't included in the poll because that makes it too easy.

Personally I think Twilight Princess is the worst Zelda. I just found the dungeons in that game really boring, the overworld empty and dull, and I hated everything where you played as the wolf.

@JJOR64 said:

For me it would have to be Four Swords Adventures. The levels where just too long and I got bored fast. Had to play the game in spurts to finish it. At the time though, I had fun with the game.

I had a lot of fun playing through that game with a friend when it came out, but single player that game is just a slog. Even with other people though some of the levels get pretty monotonous.

For me it would have to be Four Swords Adventures. The levels where just too long and I got bored fast. Had to play the game in spurts to finish it. At the time though, I had fun with the game.

I had a lot of fun playing through that game with a friend when it came out, but single player that game is just a slog. Even with other people though some of the levels get pretty monotonous.

I really had no one to play it with so I had to play it Single Player. I did play some Multiplayer for it after I beat it and it was fun. Still, just those long levels even in Multiplayer didn't help.

Getting four people with Game Boy Advances and those stupid GBA to GameCube cables together was impossible, so I wouldn't be surprised if most people played it that way. I think with online a new Four Swords on the 3DS or Wii U could be really great, but considering Nintendo's track-record with online I wouldn't expect it any time soon.

Zelda 2 , I guess . That's the only one that didn't hook me in . If you think TP is the worst , YOU'RE INSANE !

Zelda 2 is a very demanding game that is VERY different from the other Zelda games, but it really wasn't too bad, compared to the other NES games of the day.

Twilight Princess just did the fewest new things in a Zelda ever, and stuck so very close to formula. It wasn't bad, but it sure was boring. But whatever, I'm sure there are young kids out there for whom it was their first Zelda, and they totally love Midna or Wolf Link or whatever. It's certainly the worst 3D Zelda.

I never understood the hate for Twilight Princess. I picked Spirit Tracks because I really didn't get much into it, but it seems like there is no sense of adventure there.

Majoras Mask I think is great, WindWaker, I think the sailing is fun, Twilight Princess I thought Midna was pretty neat as well as some of the dungeons. I have yet to play Skyward sword but I think I'd like it more than most.

@MentalDisruption: @Nottle: I'm playing Spirit Tracks right now, and it seems fine. I like the dungeons a little better than in Phantom Hourglass. The overworld in both games is the weakest part, as there's just barely anything at all between the towns and major dungeons. I liked Zelda's role in Spirit Tracks because she's actually around and does stuff, instead of just turned to stone for like the whole game in Phantom Hourglass. Also going back to the main dungeon in PH was pretty lame after the first couple times, whereas the main dungeon in ST you just move on to the next part, and only backtrack into it if you want some extra treasure.

In general, Phantom Hourglass just disappointed me because the sea was SO much less lively than the sea in Wind Waker.

@BisonHero: I'm going to be honest, the only reason I said it is because I've played so little of it. I don't even think I've gotten to a dungeon in it. Just never got around to it. I'll give it another go sometime.

There were quite a few bad things about Phantom Hourglass. I did like Linebeck and the return of really expressive link.

I'd vote for both DS games if I could. I'm not even the sort of person that complains about touch controls in games; I'll punch your parents in the face if you say bad things about Elite Beat Agents, for instance. I just hated playing Zelda games where a ton of perfectly useful buttons were ignored so you could experience the games with a stylus. And kudos to people mentioning how empty those games felt in general.

Given the demographics of the site, I'm assuming that the majority of people voting in this poll weren't even born or were infants when Zelda II came out. So years after the fact, when 2D Zelda came to be defined as a very particular thing, anybody who plays Zelda II goes "Y MY SKILLS NO TRANSFER?" because they expect something called "Zelda II" would play like Zelda 1 or LttP.

I personally don't think it's a great game, but it seems fine. I got a couple dungeons in and found it fairly punishing, it had a weird magic system, and I didn't know where I was going, but that's NES games for you. It seems like a decent action-RPG thing, relative to the other action-RPG things of the era. But the people answering the poll are likely not really evaluating it on its own merits, and instead just don't like that it has little in common with Zelda 1 or LttP.

I guess they're right, though. Zelda II is the worst at being a Zelda game, because it basically isn't one. But that's dumb, because by that standard, Twilight Princess is the best at being a Zelda game because it is completely safe and has all the shit you expect from a Zelda game, while adding nothing worth keeping (e.g. Spinner was the most useless item with a ridiculously narrow use). It is textbook Zelda, in the sense that it's a mishmash of the games that actually wrote the textbook (Zelda 1, LttP, OoT).

Anyone not voting for Phantom Hourglass has not played Phantom Hourglass.

Fact.

Is Spirit Tracks actually better? I enjoyed Phantom Hourglass to a degree but never played past the tutorial for Spirit Tracks.

@BisonHero: When I made the poll I was more-so thinking the worst video game in the Legend of Zelda franchise, not the worst at being a Legend of Zelda video game. I think most people who hate Zelda II for being different probably also genuinely dislike it though.

Is Spirit Tracks actually better? I enjoyed Phantom Hourglass to a degree but never played past the tutorial for Spirit Tracks.

The consensus among most people* is that it's better in just about every aspect (characters, art design, dungeons, etc.) but is only good relative to PH. It's still the second-weakest Zelda game by a large margin.

The biggest difference is that it doesn't have the Ocean Temple, which forces you to repeat every interesting mechanic PH could muster over and over again until all novelty over the touch controls has been drained and only obligation to completionism pushes you forward.

Edit: *That I've talked with. Obviously there might be someone who disagrees, but I have yet to meet them.

Anyone not voting for Phantom Hourglass has not played Phantom Hourglass.

Fact.

Is Spirit Tracks actually better? I enjoyed Phantom Hourglass to a degree but never played past the tutorial for Spirit Tracks.

@BisonHero: When I made the poll I was more-so thinking the worst video game in the Legend of Zelda franchise, not worst at being a Legend of Zelda video game. I think most people who hate Zelda II for being different probably also genuinely dislike it though.

Spirit Tracks did fix some of the issues in Phantom Hourglass, though certain elements are bad in both (they both have very lifeless overworlds, and your movement speed through said overworlds is far too slow). Aside from stuff I've already mentioned earlier in the thread, I just remembered that the ending of Phantom Hourglass rips off the ending of Link's Awakening verbatim. I'm not exaggerating, it's literally the same plot device, except in LA they foreshadowed it in several places and it made sense, while in PH it just comes out of absolutely nowhere at the last second and doesn't serve the story in any way whatsoever.

Wind Waker was damn near perfect until the hours-long fetch quest just before the end.

I don't really want to argue "worst Zelda" as each has its own merit; I'm going to be contrarian and tell you my favourite.

My favourite is probably Majora's Mask, shortly followed by WW/OoT. Those are the games that had the strongest world building aspect, as far as I'm concerned. Skyward Sword feels a little too much like "My First Zelda", but I've not played enough to readily decide its place in the pantheon.

Zelda 2 , I guess . That's the only one that didn't hook me in . If you think TP is the worst , YOU'RE INSANE !

Zelda 2 is a very demanding game that is VERY different from the other Zelda games, but it really wasn't too bad, compared to the other NES games of the day.

Twilight Princess just did the fewest new things in a Zelda ever, and stuck so very close to formula. It wasn't bad, but it sure was boring. But whatever, I'm sure there are young kids out there for whom it was their first Zelda, and they totally love Midna or Wolf Link or whatever. It's certainly the worst 3D Zelda.

I don't get why people would think it's even a LITTLE bit bad. That is one of the best zelda games. the music is fantastic, among the best in the series, and pushed the NES further than any game of the time. The game is vastly different than it's predecessor, which is a great thing. Especially compared to modern times when games are just garbage clones of one another. It gave you a vastly different look at Hyrule and the people in it. And best of all, the 2d combat was fantastic. It was always challenging and thusly always fun. I think people who didn't play it at the time give it a bad rap in retrospect just because it sticks out so far from what Zelda was previously. I mean, barring the perspective, Zelda 3 has just as little in Common with Zelda 1 as Zelda 2 does.

Like many "worst/best entry in a series" polls, certain options are obscure enough that not a lot of people are going to have a strong opinion on them way or the other, so they get almost no votes. In this case, to this day a lot of people don't play the portable versions of the Zelda series, even if they are a lot better than, say, the portable version of Resistance or Killzone or something.

I mean, I think Link's Awakening is bloody fantastic, but then I got it for Christmas when I was younger when the Game Boy Color came out, and it was one of the first games I got into really deep and just knew everything about. Nostalgia aside, it is a very full Zelda experience (which is nuts given how underpowered the Game Boy was compared to the SNES), and I find it every bit as involving as Link to the Past. On the other hand, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are kind of weak, and it feels like they weren't given enough budget or time or something, because A) the overworlds are just miles and miles of NOTHING, and B) they couldn't be bothered to put a full like 6-8 dungeons in either game (and the dungeons that are in the game all feel too similar).

I remember all the people complaining about Wind Waker before its release, my heart fills with joy at the sight of it having received no votes. Of course now the devious bastards at Nintendo have secured one more Wii U purchase with its remake.

Hmm....probably Phantom Hourglass. Haven't played it for a few years, but it had the same problem I had with Majora's Mask (and I loathe Majora's Mask), and that was the terrible time limit. Add in the fact that you also had to backtrack through prior dungeons again later on also factors into it being my "worst" Zelda game (it's still a great DS game that utilized the machine in some neat ways).

@BisonHero: Definitely true. Link's Awakening is by far one of the best games, where as Phantom Hourglass/Spirit Tracks are pretty awful. They controlled very badly, the dungeons were bland and the instruments were a nightmare. The pan pipes are literally the worst game mechanic I've ever seen and make it almost impossible to progress past certain points. Ugh.

Given my personal experience I have to say Phantom Hourglass for the DS. This game is a great example of how Nintendo lately has been changing how a LoZ game controls for the worse so it can better suit the hardware just like the LoZ games for the Wii, just the basic act of the sword spin is made frustrating by having to draw a circle around Link and constantly getting hit by the range attacks of the first boss when I'm meant to be hitting them back with the spin.

The Adventure of Link was fine, all you people voting for it have no idea what you're talking about.

The worst console Zelda(I have no opinion on the handheld ones) was Ocarina of Time. That game treats you like you're a fucking five year old for hours and then when you actually get to go out and do something the enemies act like they're in a bad kung-fu movie and all wait their turn so you can fight them one at a time.

All I've got to say is that when I originally played Zelda II (back when I was a little kid) I thought it was a bad game. Having played it recently (like 4 years ago on the Wii) I found it to be an amazing game. So pretty much, go give it a whirl now and you'll prolly be pleasantly surprised.